We were off to go through the Raz de Sein, and apart from the dire warnings in the Pilot Books etc my only real concern was that the forecast was showing winds starting off in the NW (good) then going W or SW for a time before then going back to NW.

Now wind against tide would be a big no no for this trip, but I reckoned that with it only being light winds we should be fine…………

Going to the Raz de Rein from Camaret you can opt for the extremely cautious route around all the rocks but this adds about nine miles to the journey. Or you can nip through the narrowish channel between the mainland and some jaggy rocks (creating a kind of “Jurrasic” atmosphere) which is what we decided to do and it was real neat with no Pterodactyls flying off buttresses.

We were happily sailing along and keeping a keen eye on the time and distance as we needed to be off La Platte lighthouse at slack water. We had just finished a coffee when the radio jumped into life and broadcast a “securite” in French and then repeated the message in not so clear English. What I did manage to capture were a bit of the coordinates and the words “underwater explosion” whatever it was seemed to be close to our course. Jings imagine that said I……………..O’ no I didn’t. I quickly got on the blower requesting a repeat of the “securite”. The coordinates were thankfully about a mile away on our port side, and we listened to the countdown (from 15 mins with repeated broadcast for all vessels to stay clear) and looked for a big whoosh at “zero”. But the truth is that we never saw anything, but it was either the caffeine from the morning coffee, or this warning broadcast, but I can honestly say that I was now wide awake………….

Approaching the Raz de Sein the swell did build up noticeably, but thankfully it was all straightforward and we arrived off La Platte bang on time, rounded the corner and headed for Audierne. We had a nice feeling of achievement (perhaps even a sense of relief!) in having come through the two main tidal gates of the Raz and Chanel de Four.

The lighthouses at southern end of the Raz de Sein

How could we go wrong with such a studious navigator figuring out the tidal range for our next stop at Audierne?

Audierne is up a narrow river entrance with a stated minimum depth of 1m albeit subject to silting. Just outside the breakwater is Ste Evette where there are visitors mooring. Sara had calculated we needed to wait, so we picked up one of these moorings to have a spot of lunch, and wait for at least one hour, (to ensure we had plenty of water under the keel) for the 1 mile trip up to the town.

St Evette from the moorings.

The leading line markers are obvious, but the line is pretty close to the channel markers therefore shallow. Whilst running up the leading lines we were constantly checking the depth of water under the keel all the way up to the small marina. A deep keeled boat would be limited to a window either side of high tide. Approaching the marina we were fortunate that one of the hammerheads for visitors was free. Rather neat that the marina is bang in the centre of town.

You can see from this shot how narrow the channel into Audierne is – this shot was taken around one hour before low water.

Pretty short day at 30 miles but that’s the last “tidal gate” now behind us, and we are getting closer to South Brittany and warmer weather.

Camaret is another ex fishing port, which, by joined up thinking, is now part of a Co-Operative set up where the marina’s and moorings are all part of a commune set up to run and continually develop the area for tourism. The money raised is all put back into developing these resources for the benefit of the local economy – gets my vote!

The town, while small, has a great feel about it, and the back streets have some really lovely properties. We had a good old wonder around, found a park and sat and listened to the silence – that is apart from birds chirping – simply a joy.

At the harbour you cannot miss the boat graveyard. Anyone fancy a project or two?

We had planned just to spend one night here but ended up staying an extra night and enjoying the hot sunshine, drinking coffee at street side cafes that overlook the marina and harbour. I tell you it’s really tough going, but we are doing our best to struggle through each day!

Whilst the town was pretty quiet at this time of year, we both felt that the town, and the three marinas, would be really busy during the height of the summer season.

Here is a shot from the industrial part of the town looking over to the marinas etc you can see both the Fort Vauban and Rocamadour Church.

Somehow from all we had read about L’Aber W’rach we both had limited expectations on the town and surrounding area. However we were both pleasantly surprised and found the area to be lovely.

This a shot showing all the jaggies on the approach into L’Aber W’rach

Upon a recommendation by my mate John we visited the small Creperie just along from the marina on the left hand side of the road, and upon reviewing the menu we settled for a “traditional creperie meal”. This consisted of a crepe with ham, cheese and eggs, followed by one with sugar, and then to finish it off another one arrived with jam. All washed down by really good coffee. Fat faced Billies I know, but they really were scrummy 🙂

We had a few walks up and around the local town and also along the riverbank in nice warm weather and really enjoyed ourselves and the tranquillity. One place we could recommend if ever you visit is the Le Pot de Beurre restaurant; real quality food at reasonable prices.

Now for those who don’t go out boating, one point of reference is “Pilot Books” that provide detailed information on navigation in the various areas they cover. In the pilot book for this area, the Chanel de Four is described in a manner that does not make one sleep easy at night! I also had in the back of my mind the experience of a good friend – very experienced sailor – who went wind against tide and arrived of the narrowest point of the Chanel at St Mathieu and had a bit of an “exciting ten minute spell” in the resultant waves! – no prizes for guessing the things that were running through my mind.

We had done all the calculations (several times) reviewed all the information, and set off with the wind from the NW therefore behind us (good) into some sizeable swell, but not as big as when we came into L’Aber W’Rach.

I’ll cut a long story short………………..it was fine, the Chanel de Four treated us well, and we arrived safely in Camaret.

For the most part of the Chanel de Four there is a good transit on two lighthouses, and with the other huge markers the French lay out it would be hard, in good conditions to get the navigation wrong. However in adverse conditions one might be best to stay put in harbour as it is (in my opinion) not a place to take unnecessary risks.

Next major tidal gate is the Raz de Sein which also carries dire warnings in the Pilot Books – the only thing they miss out is saying that Mythical Sea Serpents come to life en route down the Raz, which is apparently pronounced Raaar.

Here is a shot of the lighthouses at the southern end of the Chanel de Four

Now the forecast as could be best interpreted was NW around Falmouth F4/5 then we could expect the winds to go SW same strength, then the nearer we got to France the winds should move back to NW or N and easing. Well for the first time I can recall it all worked out as per our combined interpretation of the weather forecast.

We set out from Helford River and had a really good sail with Sun Dog loping along at a heady 5-6kts in 15-20 kts of breeze OK not in the same league as the modern boats that would be doing 8-9kts but it was one of those special periods in time where time wasn’t an issue as long as we arrived in daylight, as on the charts it looks pretty rocky all around the approaches to L’Aber W’rach

This continued for a while until we began to get headed by the wind, and Sun Dog has many virtues but sailing close to the wind is not one of them – so mainsail stayed up and the old faithful Perkins got fired up.

We came across this lovely old boat on the way over, and as you can see from the photo it was hard to capture a good level photo in the swell, and this is the best one!!

We were expecting commercial traffic on the French side going into and out of the Traffic Separation Scheme off Ouessant but jumping Jesus I didn’t expect it to be like Piccadilly Circus or Sauchiehall Street on a Saturday. All this in the pitch black, and therefore not so easy to gauge distance/size of vessel – other than via their navigation lights which indicate whether they are under or over 50 metres in length. At one point I ended up being the meat in a sandwich between two of these huge boats coming at me at different angles – simplistically one would have been coming from say 90 degrees and the other coming from 80 degrees. As I was slowing to nip around the back of the first one, it was shortening the distance between us and the other one coming along. AIS is a big help in figuring out their headings but some of these are huge vessels travelling at high speeds so real vigilance is the name of the game.

One of these boats was just short of 300 metres and going at 20 kts (AIS gives the vessels details) and in cases like this I always remember one of my Dads saying “it’s not a question of whose right son – it’s a question of whose left”! Anyhow I could witter away but suffice to say that I have never been at sea with such a volume of commercial traffic. As for the odd one or two that came along separate from the groups Old Hawkeye AKA Sara, who has an amazing aptitude for picking up the lights on boats, and separating them from the light of stars. In fact I think she can see them before they have cleared the horizon – must be a wee bit of Celtic mysticism still in her blood? I can also say that for someone who has never experienced the ocean swell before this trip, she has been simply amazing and unfazed by anything we have experienced thus far – apart that is from the shark encounter in Irish waters. In fact coming into L’Aber Wrach the swell builds higher as the waters become shallower, but she was quite happy taking the helm, or getting the binoculars out and using her old Hawkeye skills to pick out markers etc – excellent support.

We arrived at low water and it was quite a sight seeing the swell crash over the rocks as we were running up the approaches,but in truth with all the markers around it would be hard to get it wrong in clear conditions. We were met at the marina by the mooring guy who pointed out an inner berth as the visitors’ pontoon was full. This berth was way shorter than the length of the boat and unfortunately as Sara was getting off with the lines she got her leg caught in one of the fender lines – looked really sore – but Hawkeye doesn’t give in easily and she freed herself and got the boat tide up. It could have been nasty, but turned out well enough as she “only” has a sore leg. Well that’s it for this leg (no pun intended), we have now covered over 700 miles since setting off and cannot believe how quickly the time is passing.

Love to everyone
G n’ S

This morning we called the water taxi on channel 37 and sweet talked him into giving us a trip down the river and passing on some local information on the area. We were then dropped ashore at Helford Village and told to simply open the sign when we need to get back to the boat.

You don’t want the Ferry

O’ So now you do want the Ferry!

I know I have used the word delightful a lot writing up this blog, but there is no other word to sum up the beauty of this corner of England. Really pretty and one could spend a lot of time exploring the area.

What about this for a setting – pub has big outdoor BBQ

It was time for us to head back to the boat and have a final check on the weather before setting off for France.

Murphys Law always strikes and the only way I could get a phone signal was to hang off the standing rigging holding my left toe in the air…..OK not quite that bad but hellish reception – not normally an issue but I really wanted to see the most recent weather before committing to departing.

Knowing my mate Marcus is never far from a computer screen I took the liberty of getting him to check online, and the long and short of it was the weather systems are still complicated but nothing has fundamentally changed since yesterday, so we are good to go.

Thanks again Marcus it was very much appreciated.

So it was a case of making up some food for the crossing – only a very special person can cook down below in a boat that is rocking and rolling around. That is not me – I would be shouting for” Hughie” within minutes.

Once the preparations were complete, we cast off the mooring line and set off out of the Helford River. The peculiar thing is that whilst we have already covered some 600 miles on our trip and enjoyed extended stops in Isles of Scilly and Falmouth area – we both feel like we are now really going on holiday. Anyhow it’s L’Aber W’rach or bust – metaphorically speaking.

A big happy birthday to another grandson who is 14 today…………………..yeah.

Hope you had a good day Prentice and look forward to catching up soon.

Lots of Love

G n’ S

Today we went on line and checked the weather forecast with a view to heading over to L’Aber W’rach in Brittany. The weather patterns are somewhat complicated and hard to figure out as the positions of the lows and high around Europe are a bit complex. We finally made a decision that we would not head across the Channel today but will leave when the wind direction finally changes.

The added bonus of this decision was that we could leave Falmouth today and head round the short distance to the Helford River which has a reputation for being one of the jewels of the south coast of England. We arrived around 1630 and I really couldn’t face blowing up the dingy and then having to deflate and store, so when the moorings officer came out for our fee (the engine was barely switched off!!) we asked if there was a local water taxi – which there was but unfortunately (for us) they only run between 0930 and 1700, and he was finshed for today as he was off to watch the local rugby team Penzance Pirates. So a night of R&R onboard instead. The wind is still from the east so we are a wee bit exposed until it changes direction.

This afternoon we decided to head up and visit Smugglers Cottage, which according to the local tourist leaflets was where General Eisenhower was based during the lead up to D Day. Today it is a restaurant come tea room with some really fascinating WW2 photographs on the wall. According to what we read, 27,000 American troops embarked from Falmouth for the D Day landing, and sadly the associated horror on some of these beaches. This horror was inflicted not only on the Americans but on all the forces of the free world that were involved is way way beyond my comprehension, and “bravery” seems such an inadequate word. Were it not for all these young soldiers, sailors and airmen gave, we would not have the freedom to enjoy our life, which let’s face it, we all at times forget and take what they did for granted.

Can you imagine the decisions and weight of responsibility that rested on General Eisenhowers shoulders given he had total authority over the D Day landings? It was weird to think that some of these awsome/monumental decisions were taken in this charming and delightful wee cottage?

Onto to happier thoughts..

As you can see from the photo Smugglers Cottage is simply delightful, and whilst we didn’t have a meal here we couldn’t resist yet another Cream Tea….jubbly.

On the way up we passed the King Harry Ferry which I’m told saves a lot of driving time, and looked to be busy with queues on each side which proves it is a popular shortcut.

We didn’t take Sun Dog up the River to Smugglers Cottage, instead we managed to get the local water taxi to take us there and back for £10 each. This represents good value and the chap that runs the taxi is a real nice helpful guy, who is building a new business by providing this service all around the Falmouth area. This is well worth checking out and supporting if you are ever in this area.

On the way into Falmouth we saw St Mawes on the right hand side on the way in and it looked lovely, therefore today we went over to have a look around and were not disappointed. It is a lovely little town where we had a bite to eat at the Chandlery Cafe which was really tasty. Can’t recall the name of the river that runs into St Mawes, but when we walked along the banks of the river it was so tranquil – nice day.

Here are a couple of photos of the area which hopefully do the place justice.

It’s been a while since fuel was these prices – 2/3d per gallon in old money 12.5p per gallon in new money!! ….with my guess being that this garage stopped selling fuel a long time ago 🙁

We were up and away to get the bus to Penzance, and what a journey this turned out to be. Picture double decker buses in narrow Cornwall roads and overhanging tree branches en route. The drivers must have the patience of Job trying to squeeze past other vehicles. At times they are inches and I mean inches from houses, and whilst this could be considered normal for the area the most alarming thing is the damage done to the top sides of these buses. The drivers do their best but the trees pelt the buses with some hefty bangs and you would not believe the damage to the top front corners and sides of these buses…..

We arrived in Penzance and looked around the harbour spotting some boats that had left the Isles of Scilly the same day as us heading for Falmouth, but they must have decided to stop here and get back to work, or this was a far as they wanted to go given the forecast! It was pretty congested in the harbour, which has a lock gate that is only open for a certain period of time before and after high water. This gate allows all the boats within the harbour to float all the time, with the other part of the harbour complex drying out completely. No offence to anyone, but this area could not be described as pretty, and we were pleased that we didn’t come into here en route.

Interestingly we found out that the ferry that runs from here to the Isles of Scilly (the Scillionian) which, after the gig racing was packed with gigs and people, couldn’t get into the harbour due to the bad weather and had to shelter behind St Michaels Mount until the weather settled itself. Thank goodness we left when we we did!

We then decided to walk round to Newlyn to see if it was any better, but in truth found this also to be a pretty tired looking place, and the harbour had hardly any space available for any visiting boats. Both places could really do with a bit of a hoover! One good thing we found was Dukes Cafe, just across from the War Memorial that served lovely food at reasonable prices. For the record, I normally love working harbours, but there is simply something missing in these ports. I can say that we were both pretty disappointed, as we had been looking forward so much to visiting them – shame really.

In fairness we didn’t see either of these ports/towns at their best, as the weather was a bit wet and miserable. Whilst we were glad we came down to look at these ports, the overwhelming feeling was of being pleased that we had decided to continue directly to Falmouth. It was then a case of walking back to Penzance and another “bus bashing” trip back to Falmouth.

Back in the marina we had a good chat with the South African crew who are in the process of delivering a Leopard 46 Catamaran from South Africa to Sweden. They had an interesting story to tell as they got a bit of a bashing coming up the Atlantic and had to heave to for three or four days before heading into the Azores for some repairs to the rigging. We were invited on board to have a look around and all we can say is wow – it is simply enormous inside. The luxury staterooms are huge, one of which is about the size of Sun Dog. Unfortunately for them, they are so far behind on this delivery trip, and this has been compounded by having to shelter here, but they hope to head off within the next couple of days, and we wish them the best of luck.